Charles Barkley 'embarrassed' by 'ignorant folks in Alabama'

Former Auburn basketball great Charles Barkley said he was "embarrassed" by the "rousing" reaction of an Alabama crowd to President Donald Trump's call for NFL owners to fire players who don't stand for the national anthem.

"That's a total disrespect of our heritage. That's a total disrespect of everything that we stand for," Trump said during a rally in Huntsville for Luther Strange's U.S. Senate campaign on Friday night.

"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, you'd say, 'Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He's fired.'"

Appearing on "The NFL on CBS" pregame show on Sunday, Barkley said: "The president of the United States should never use the word SOB. That's just 100 percent inappropriate. I'm embarrassed because he said the speech in Alabama and got a rousing reception when he said those things. So it hurts me that those ignorant folks in Alabama would applaud something so stupid."

Before playing at Auburn and going on to a Hall of Fame career in the NBA, Barkley, a native of Alabama, attended Leeds High School.

The president's remarks have drawn a variety of reactions around the NFL on Sunday, with many more players kneeling than had previously and others locking arms during the performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner." The Pittsburgh Steelers stayed in their locker room while the national anthem played before their game against the Chicago Bears.

CBS and FOX were televising the national-anthem performance during their coverage of each of the games, something that isn't always included in the telecast.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @AMarkG1.